Why the Royal Rumble is Starting at 6PM ET

The Royal Rumble is one of the most important dates on the WWE
calendar. It is one of the company’s tentpole PLEs, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series. The Road to WrestleMania begins at the Royal Rumble. It is a night when two superstars overcome 29 other individuals and earn a career-defining opportunity for a world championship match at the Grandest Stage of Them All.

The 38th annual Royal Rumble is historic in many proportions. Apart from being the first Premium Live Event (PLE) of 2025, it is also the first PLE to be live-streamed on Netflix. Likewise, this marks the first time the Rumble will be held in February. It will be held on February 1st at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

For fans who can’t attend the show live, they can catch the action a little earlier than the usual PLE or television programming that they’ve grown accustomed to. The 2025 Royal Rumble will have a special 6PM ET start time.

Why the Royal Rumble is Starting Early

WWE is trending towards early PLE start times

In case you haven’t noticed, the WWE began PLEs earlier than the usual 8PM ET start time, since the middle of 2024. SummerSlam and Money in the Bank both started at 7PM ET. Bad Blood and Survivor Series: WarGames began at 6PM ET. It appears like the WWE has decided to continue with that trend as the 2025 Royal Rumble will be the third straight PLE with a 6PM ET start time.

This is good news for some WWE markets around the world, as they will benefit from not needing to stay awake deeper into the night just to find out who will earn an opportunity for a main event world title match at WrestleMania. Specifically, fans in the United Kingdom won’t have to stay up until 4:30AM or 5AM to finish the show. In contrast, Japanese fans will need to get up a little earlier and probably have to eat breakfast while watching as the Rumble will begin rolling at 8AM.

Meanwhile, fans in Los Angeles should still have some time to enjoy the night out after the Royal Rumble is done. CM Punk fans still have some time to celebrate after the show, should the Second City Saint win the entire thing.

The Men’s Royal Rumble Match is Stacked

John Cena, Roman Reigns, CM Punk headline this year’s Rumble

Just over a week remains until the 2025 Royal Rumble and it is shaping up to be one of the most stacked Rumbles of all time. As noted, this Royal Rumble is historic on so many levels. But what makes this more special is that this will be the final Royal Rumble match of John Cena’s decorated WWE career. Though this may be his last, Cena is looking to end with a bang as he looks to win and earn an opportunity to win his historic 17th world title at WrestleMania. The 16-time world champion is the odds-on favorite to win the 2025 Royal Rumble.

Meanwhile, CM Punk is more motivated than ever to win this year’s Royal Rumble match. He is still set on accomplishing his dream of headlining WrestleMania, and the Royal Rumble is the most viable pathway to that destination.

As for Roman Reigns, this will be his first Rumble appearance since 2019. The Tribal Chief has been champion over the last four years. But after losing his Undisputed WWE Championship to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40, Reigns is looking to reclaim the title he held for a historic 1,316 days.

While Cena, Punk, and Reigns headline the stacked field, other prominent names like Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Jey Uso, and Sami Zayn also have their own respective agendas heading into this year’s Royal Rumble. Apart from earning a title opportunity, Rollins is trying to ruin Punk’s dream of main eventing WrestleMania. McIntyre, meanwhile, doesn’t want to see Reigns get back to the top and wants to stop him at the Rumble. As for Uso and Zayn, they are still seeking to win their first world championships.

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How to Get Tickets for WWE Royal Rumble 2025

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